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Sunday, February 12, 2012

Open-Face Egg Sandwich with Bacon, Asparagus, and Pesto

What could be a better start to Valentine’s Day than a delicious breakfast with some playful presentation? This dish combines bacon, roasted asparagus, roasted green onions, bronzed sourdough, homemade pesto spread, and of course, a fried egg. I love cutting this sandwich in half and letting the gooey fried egg run over the asparagus and bacon. Topping each bite with bits of tomato cucumber salad adds a final fresh component to this irresistible flavor profile.

InstructionsTo make the pesto: Place spinach leaves, basil leaves, minced garlic, pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, and olive oil in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until a spreadable paste forms. Set aside.

To roast the asparagus and scallions: Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place the asparagus spears and scallions in a 9x13 pan and drizzle with the olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle salt and pepper. Roast for about 20 minutes, or until they have browned.

To make the tomato and cucumber salad: In a medium bowl, toss together the chopped tomato, the chopped cucumber, and the chopped basil. Drizzle fresh lemon juice. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste.

To make the bacon and bronzed toast: Fry up bacon slices on a griddle over medium heat. Once both sides have crisped, remove from griddle and place on a paper towel. Don’t drain the bacon grease, use this pan to toast the slices of bread. Place the slices of sourdough bread on the griddle and bronze each side. Take off heat once both sides have browned

For the fried egg: melt butter in skillet on medium heat. To get the heart-shaped egg, we cracked the eggs into Norpro Nonstick Heart and Pancake Egg Rings, then continued to fry just until egg white is cooked, or sunny-side up, roughly 1 minute. You could also fry the egg normally and cut the egg into a heart shape.

To assemble sandwiches: Place 2 slices of bacon on a slice of the bronzed sourdough toast. Place a few roasted asparagus spears and scallion on top of the bacon. Spread a thick layer of spinach basil pesto. Finally, top with the heart-shaped fried egg. Serve salad on side.

Thanks, Kristina. Great to have you as a new member! Those rings actually seem to work well. They keep all the egg white from escaping, but still let it cook through nice and quick, so the yolk stays soft.

This is a wonderful savory way to celebrate Valentine's. Great way to stack all those goodies together-yum! Not sure if I would just have it for breakfast or just for Valentine's-no need to restrict this tasty meal!

This is quite the perfect Valentine's Day breakfast. Love the heart shaped egg! Bacon, asparagus, eggs, pesto and toast, what's not to love. Someone was very lucky yesterday! Hope you had a great Valentine's Day!